Knights of The Old Republic
by Unlimited Blade Works
Summary: Being trained unconventionally would be putting it lightly. In the waning day's of The Galactic Republic there was at least one supposed Jedi Knight that was...a little off. Naruto blamed Jiraiya.


**Knights of The Old Republic**

 **Chapter One: The Lightsaber**

 **Authors Note-**

Watched The Clone Wars for the first time recently, this has been bouncing around in my head ever since, enjoy.

Please Note this story takes place 3 years proceeding The Clone Wars and then will span The Clone Wars Themselves, just a heads up.

I did do some editing but it's not going to be perfect, just a heads up.

 **Story Start-**

Naruto breathed in slowly, regulating his breathing was critically important at this point. After all he had never done this before and the blond certainly did not want to mess it up, that would just be plain annoying. Not to mention possibly deadly, lightsabers did not play nice if you made even the slightest mistake in their creation. His own Master, Jiraiya, had pointed out before they began that if he did not pay close attention and get it exactly right then the saber would likely explode moments after Naruto turned it on, likely leaving nothing of himself or it's metal casing.

The orange crystal he was using would be perfectly fine though, Jiraiya had also told him that.

Oddly that did not make Naruto feel any better about the whole dying thing.

His hands left their still position on his lap and rose, the components rising with them. Naruto twisted his fingers aligning the first parts of his blade. With a flick of his wrists the slowly rotating orange crystal was encapsulated tightly as the emitter matrix made itself at home atop the new structure. Sweat beaded on his forehead, this wasn't easy, large displays of The Force had always came to him easily, it was this kind of precision work that he had always found hard.

Rotating his arms the blond brought his hands into position, his right a foot above his left. The components of his lightsaber rotated with his arms, aligning once more where Naruto needed them to be pressing his right hand to his left the blond haired Force Sensitive attached the Adagan Focusing Lens to the top of his Emitter Matrix. Originally he had been planning to use a Vibration Lens instead, as it provided more power, though a less stable blade as a result, but eventually he had decided not to go down that road. Trading off stability for power could occasionally be the right choice but he did not feel it to be the right one for him, at least not right now.

Instead he had chosen the Adagan Lens instead, his blade would be more focused and thus more powerful, though not to the same level that a Vibration Lens would provide, it would also be more stable something that would be handy in the coming years, he could feel it. Naruto could feel his arms start to shake, he wasn't quite sure how long he had been at this but it had been quite a long time. The blond had been taking it slow and making sure every single piece of this most personal of weapons would be perfect once it was set in place, honestly speaking he could not wait to see the finished product.

A turn of his fingers brought the half finished blade vertical a single piece floated into place below the rest of the blade, the Daitium Power Cell. With a quick flick the blond fixed it in place now came the last part. His hands came up like a conductor about to begin a concert the two halves of his hilt taking their places above and below the half finished blade. Guiding the flow of The Force with an ease born of years of practise Naruto brought the the final components together in a single motion his hands pressing together as he did so, The Force flowing through him and sealing the blade, fusing the core components so that only he would ever be able to move them again.

Opening his eyes the blond observed his new weapon. The blade emitter was a single piece of obsidian black steel cut off at such a sharp forty five degree angle it appeared to be capable of being used like a short knife even by itself. The hilt was slightly longer than other lightsabers he had studied making a two handed fighting grip easier, in fact for the most part it was his preferred method of combat, though he was also more than just proficient with Jai'Kar duel blade fencing. The remainder of the hilt was utilitarian, dull druasteel grey covered by slightly worn brown leather that would make the blade easier to grip when his hands were sweaty, though his gloves would help in that department as well. A single ring of black metal made an appearance once more halfway down the hilt, separating the two grips for his hands with the hilt itself finishing in a seven sided pyramid that closed into a very sharp point.

Naruto looked down at his new blade with a grin splitting his wary face and stood, reaching out with The Force and willing the blade into his waiting right hand. The lightsaber flying into the appendage with an almost gleeful will of it's own. He could feel it, it was perfect fit him like a glove thumbing the activation switch the blond ignited his blade, the familiar hiss cutting through the air as a fiery orange blade roared into existence.

Naruto couldn't stop his grin from getting even wider, oh yeah this was going to be awesome!

 **XXX**

Jiraiya liked to consider himself to be a simple man at his core, not that many would agree with him. After all how many people could say that they had been a Jedi Master, Dark Jedi, Smuggler, Mercenary, Negotiator and Spy at various points in their lives. It was that strange mix of life experiences that made Jiraiya, at least to those that didn't know him, seem like an extremely complex man. When it could not be further from the truth, the simple fact of the matter was that Jiraiya would do what he felt was necessary to protect what he believed in and those who he cared about.

At one point in his life that had meant being a Jedi Master, so as to better protect and achive his ideas of peace. When the Jedi refused to help those out of The Republics control due to conflict of interests he had more or less handed in a resignation and become a Smuggler and due to his bleeding heart Jiraiya had generally donated his goods rather than sell them to those in need. This as a natural reaction meant that he had needed an alternate form of revenue generation, hence the Mercenary part of his, rather eventful, life.

The Negotiator part was quite simple really, after the civil war, who's rebels he had been supporting, was over Jiraiya had rejoined The Jedi Order. Against the wishes of several of the Jedi Masters, though as Grand Master of the Order Yoda had chosen to take their wishes 'under advisement' rather than bow to them. In exchange the other Masters that didn't take kindly to his reinstatement to The Order, let alone his reinstatement to the vaunted station of Jedi Master and thus had decided to ship him off as a Negotiator at their earliest convince. This in turn had started a five year stint as one of The Republics hardest negotiators, usually any situation Jiraiya was sent into was expected to end in 'Aggressive Negotiations', by which he meant negotiations at lightsaber point.

Jiraiya also found during this time that it really was a lot easier to get what you wanted out of people when you held a blade of plasma to their throat.

However even though Jiraiya hadn't really enjoyed his tenure as a negotiator it had proven beneficial to his people skills, which were somewhat lacking at that point in time. Eventually he had been allowed to return to The Jedi Temple on a more permanent basis, at which point the white haired man had began to dive into history having developed a taste for it after being on then job with Senator Chuchi of Pantora, who was an amateur archaeologist in his spare time.

It was this new found interest in history that had led Jiraiya to digging a little to far into the old Jedi records for some council members likings. As it meant that he had found something that they did not want to become common knowledge, The Rakatan Infinite Empire. The Infinite Empire had once spanned the entire Galaxy it's masters the Rakata species, who, if Jiraiya was interpreting the writings correctly, based their technology on The Force.

Creating a fusion of Force Based Energy and Technology, leading to many wonders, and many horrors. The most prominent of these being The Star Forge an ancient ship construction station found by Darth Revan over three thousand years ago. However the Rakata, nor their empire for that matter, were not something the Jedi were ever keen on becoming common knowledge. After all they were a race led by Force Sensitises that killed or enslaved all they met, some of the things done by the ancient Rakata made The Sith Order look down right cuddly.

The Jedi certainly didn't want that to become common knowledge, after all the Galaxy at large knowing that a race of Force Sensitise people had once enslaved most known species directly at the wishes of their Force Sensitive Priests. That would not do the image of Force Sensitises, like The Jedi Order, any favours and The Republic was already starting to consider them an antiquated relic. They had dissolved The Grand Army of The Republic long ago after all and security forces had done a fine job since then with little Jedi input. Some figures in The Senate were starting to feel that The Jedi Order was more of a drain on their resources than it was worth.

The knowledge of The Infinite Empire coming to light could be what tipped the scales in the end. Especially after that debacle with Jedi Master Valkorion back when The Grand Army was dissolved, he took most of the out of work soldiers with him, along with more than half of The Republic Fleet and set off into uncharted space. Claiming that The Republic didn't know the worth of their soldiers and leaving only a cryptic message that he would forge an Empire that would surmount all of his previous creations.

For a Jedi Master that almost single handedly ended fifteen separate wars in a ten year time frame that was one hell of a statement to make. Even though that particular event had happened almost six hundred years ago The Senate still liked to bring it up whenever they had a negative point to make about The Jedi Order. There was a part of Jiraiya that wondered if Valkorion succeeded, and if he did then why hadn't he returned at the head of his new empire? Still the most likely case was that Valkorion and his men had met with failure, most dying after a unknown hyperspace jump after all Valkorion had set off to make his empire in an area of space no one had explored before.

Hyperspace exploration was always a dangerous affair so it was more than possible that most, if not all, had died making a bad jump. Still whatever had really happened it wasn't of any concern to him anymore. Eventually Jiraiya had gotten sick of all of the attempted restrictions that many Jedi Masters had tried to place on him and simply left, he had very much enjoyed life outside of The Jedi Order before he would do so again.

Once more he had turned to the work of a mercenary to put food on the table and credits in his pocket. It was on the very first job that he had taken after leaving The Order for his second time that Jiraiya had met the man that would become his Apprentice. Minato, the boy didn't have a last name, was a native of Nar Shaddaa that was good with his hands and quick with wits, enough so that he had impressed the captain of the mercenary band Jiraiya had hooked up with to give him a job running errands.

Personally Jiraiya thought it was The Will of The Force that the two of them had met. Even when Minato was only nine The Force flowed around him like a gale, he was strong, so strong that Jiraiya knew seasoned Knights that didn't have even half of the boys strength, or wisdom for that matter. He had immediately offered him an Apprenticeship and after proving that yes he was in fact a real Jedi, that had taken more work than Jiraiya liked to admit, Minato had jumped at the opportunity. They had left the mercenary band a month later, the Captain being paid a healthy sum of Credits to let Minato go early instead of waiting out the full three years he had been contracted on for.

His young Apprentice had learned fast, though Minato had more of a bend for Force Techniques than he did lightsaber combat. Not that he was a slouch in that area at all, far from it actually, it was simply that Naruto's father had preferred the use of The Force to direct combat, though quite frequently mixed the two together in combat.

By the time he was eighteen Minato was verging on being a master of Form VI, Niman, the most balanced of the seven traditional forms and one that made great use of both The Force and lightsaber combat in tandem. In addition to that however Minato had not neglected the other forms being more than passable in Forms I, III and V while being an advanced user of Form II, Makashi and Form IV Ataru. Form II's elegance and simplicity of form, while being undeniably subtle, appealed to his young apprentice while Form IV, Ataru, took advantage of Minato's natural speed and agility making his prowess with it something few his age would be able to boast.

It was also at this age that Minato met a woman that would become the love of his life, Kushina Uzumaki. Up until Master Yoda had called him to informing of the fact that a Sith had been involved in The Naboo Incident Jiraiya had considered her to be the closest thing to a Sith the Galaxy would ever see again. It had taken some time to get Kushina to open up to them after Minato had saved her from certain death but they had managed it.

The red head had originally been a slave but her 'masters' had known she was Force Sensitive and taken her to Yavin 4. A place that any Jedi with half a brain avoided like the plague due to the Dark Side Energies that warped around the planet like a cocoon. They had figured that with a Force Sensitive with them they may have been able to find one of The Sith Tombs that supposedly littered the planet, that got what they wished for and more.

To be more specific they found the last resting place of The Dark Lord of the Sith Naga Sadow, who's defences killed all but the red head which they recognised as a Force Sensitive. Inside of his tomb Kushina had found something that to this day Jiraiya still considered destroying, The Holocron of Naga Sadow. Inside she had learned some of the secrets of The Dark Side in addition to the vicious Form VII, Juyo, and Jai'Kar combination that Naga Sadow had favoured when alive. However Kushina had an innate kindness and mercy to her that refused to be completely submerged in The Dark Side, it was for this reason she was only half trained when they had found her as the Holocron refused to divulge more secrets until she gave in to The Dark Side.

For another two years Jiraiya had towed around those two with him finishing both training and changing Kushina from a Sith, well okay almost a Sith, to more of a Dark Jedi. She certainly made free use of Dark Side abilities, the red head used to shock people who annoyed her with Force Lighting, but she also was one of the most compassionate and merciful people one could ever hope to meet. However as a result of their training together Jiraiya and Minato had picked up several Sith techniques, enough that The Jedi Council, if they ever learned about them, would be more than read to brand them Dark Jedi in a heartbeat.

If they didn't just outright declare Jiraiya a Sith Lord, which was completely possible.

But by the end of their training Minato had completely Mastered Form VI Niman, in much the same way that Kushina Mastered Juyo. Jiraiya was finally content to let them go out on their own without him constantly watching over them and then, as these things went, they found that they liked each other as more than friends and were married by twenty four. Naruto was expected just as Minato was about to turn twenty five and four months after Kushina's own birthday, they had named him Godfather and if it wasn't for the fact that their attackers had forced his shuttle to crash land they would likely still be alive.

If there was something that neither Jiraiya, Minato or Kushina lacked it was enemies. One did not play the political arena, be a mercenary or spy without gaining them and somehow they had found Minato and Kushina's hide away on Aldreaan then bribed the nobles not to help them when the attack came. Not a hard thing to do, there were few things more corrupt in this Galaxy than Alderaanian nobles. The attack had come on the night of Naruto's birth, right when Kushina would be at her weakest and Minato would be forced to fight past his own limits to keep them both safe. Those that came after them were in the dozens, maybe even breaking the hundred mark. Mandalorian Bounty Hunters looking to collect or just being paid to do a Job, Hutt Cartel Agents that were working for their masters, normal Bounty Hunters just making ends meat.

There were as many reasons as there were attackers but at the end of that hated night only one thing could be certain, Minato and Kushina died protecting their son. Then the nobles that had made money out of the endeavour had died by his own hand. Jiraiya was not particularly proud of that fact but it needed to be done, they would never be convicted on Alderaan and they had to pay for the death of the pair he considered a son and a daughter. Maybe he just killed them for self satisfaction, honestly even Jiraiya wasn't sure anymore. But they were dead and now he had a Godson to raise a Godson that was inarguably the strongest Force Sensitive that he had ever seen.

Minato had been a gale of Force Energy at nine, in Naruto The Force flowed like an ocean. Hell mere hours after he was born the child showed more potential power than most Jedi Masters would ever be capable of harnessing. So Jiraiya had done the only thing he felt that he could do, he had raised his Godson the best that he could. He was far from a perfect parent but it was better than nothing and, at least as far as he was concerned, better than what The Jedi Order could had offered. They believed that a lack of emotion, or perhaps a ridged control of emotion in more moderate members, would lead to inner peace. Jiraiya believed they were wrong, it was not a lack of emotion that would lead to inner peace, though the idea of control was moving in the right direction.

After studying the teachings of The Sith, more specifically Naga Sadow, Jiraiya had come to believe that balance was the true key to peace. Not locking ones emotions away but balancing out control with desire, There Is No Emotion There Is Peace was wrong. But so was Peace Is A Lie There Is Only Passion. These day's Jiraiya thought the ancient Je'daii that The Order had evolved from had it right from the get go.

Emotion, Yet Peace.

Ignorance, Yet Knowledge.

Passion, Yet Serenity.

Chaos, Yet Harmony.

Death, Yet The Force.

As far as he was concerned Jiraiya agreed with their statements completely, all things in balance. It was the changing of these tenants of their order that gave rise to The Sith. Certainly The Sith had many things that Jiraiya did not agree with but what if they had listened to those first of Je'daii that walked down the dark path? Could they have reached a decision that would satisfy more? Would The Sith have been as great a threat if The Jedi Order had been more moderate on their stance of The Code rather than ridged?

They were questions that he would never have answered but it didn't stop Jiraiya from wondering anyway. Naruto had been a trying child, all of his fathers looks all of his mothers personality. Oh it had not been easy that much was certain, but it had been rewarding. Especially now of all times watching his Apprentice construct his first lightsaber. The large white haired man smiled as the crystal was enclosed by the emitter matrix, Naruto wouldn't get this wrong he knew what he was doing even if the blond probably didn't quite believe that yet.

Naruto had been an interesting student, unlike his father who focused on The Force the blond was more like his mother and focused on lightsaber combat. Not to say that Naruto wasn't proficient in his and control of The Force but he certainly put an emphasis on melee combat over it. Thankfully he was also easier to train in this respect than either of his parents for Jiraiya. While he was an experienced combatant with all seven forms Jiraiya truly shined in using both halves of Form V Shien and Djem So.

Unlike his father Naruto was not blessed with extreme speed, make no mistake he could be blindingly fast when he needed to be but not to the same level as his father. Instead the younger blond was gifted with extreme stamina and physical strength, though his reaction time was second to none. His stamina, physical strength and reaction speed all combined together to make Naruto Uzumaki one of the finest practitioners of Form V that Jiraiya had ever taught, though his ability in Form VII, Juyo was very close behind. The white haired man also believed that if given enough time the younger man could reach the same level of speed as his father, but unlike Mianto who had it as a natural gift Naruto would need to sweat and bleed for it.

If, and it was a big if all things considered, Naruto could combine his own physical strength and endurance then gain his fathers speed Jiraiya had little doubt that the blond would become one of the most powerful lightsaber combatants living. Though he seriously doubted that the blond would ever try and master Makashi like Minato had, Naruto had given it a good go but he was no more than of middling skill with the style, he simply disliked the formality of it.

That said his Ataru was coming along nicely, it would be a good mix with the amount of Form V and Form VII he had mastered already adding more unpredictable movements to his apprentices skill set. That said Naruto's defence was lacking, he had only made the blond learn enough of Form III, Soresu, to move into Form V maybe it was time to go back to basics and teach Naruto as much of the defencive form as he could, it was probably a good idea after all.

The blond was far more of an offencive fighter and his natural endurance meant that he could keep up an assault for far longer than most but eventually he was going to need a heavier defence than the Form I, Shii-Cho, could provide, and the best purely defencive stance in the entirety of the seven forms was Form III Soresu. Not that he wouldn't have time to teach Naruto either, they were about to start the last test that he would be giving his blond Apprentice.

Though it was one hell of a long test, which was precisely why Jiraiya was allowing him to build his own lightsaber now rather than when they were done. If something went horribly, horribly wrong on this job then he wanted Naruto to have his own weapon in his hands rather than the spare saber Jiraiya had been lending him for the duration of his training. Minato and Kushina's lightsaber's had survived the attack, but Jiraiya hadn't wanted to use them. The metal cylinders were laid to rest with them on Alderaan while the crystals were on Naruto, enclosed in a metal pendant that he wore around his neck.

Jiraiya thought it was a good way for him to have a connection to his parents, this way was the one he thought was best. Minato and Kushina got to be laid to rest like the Jedi of old, with their weapons. While Naruto got the most valuable part of the lightsaber, the part that contained the lightsabers 'soul' as it were, the crystals. One gold, two violet, Minato's single crystal and Kushina's pair. Maybe one day Naruto would use one of them to create a lightsaber so that he could use Jai'Kar in combat but Jiraiya doubted it. If his Apprentice was going to do that he would likely find another crystal, that way he could make sure his parents crystals would always stay on him.

Some Jedi lost lightsabers left right and centre after all.

The final pieces of his Apprentices lightsaber slid into place and Jiraiya smiled, though it would have been nice if Naruto had not taken six and a half hours to get it done. Then again it was not like they were in a rush and the blond most certainly wanted to make sure it was perfect, and Jiraiya could feel it from where he was standing, the lightsaber was indeed perfectly created. Naruto stood to his full hight of five foot seven, not inconsiderable for a man that had not yet finished growing but certainly still quite a bit smaller than Jiraiya's own six foot three.

Considering that neither Minato nor Kushina were exceptionally tall people, the chances were that Naruto would never become as tall as he was. Something that would likely irritate his Apprentice so Jiraiya would be sure to keep ribbing him about it, it was funny after all. Most Jedi didn't have a sense of humour, Qui-Gon had been the exception not the rule it was one of the reason that Jiraiya had been sad to feel him pass into death. But that said humour was the spice of life and he was going to milk his Apprentices hight complex for all it was worth, Jiraiya was betting it had come about due to Naruto's short stature when he was younger either way it was still funny.

A hiss cut through the air as a fiery orange blade roared to life from the lightsaber clutched in his Apprentice's hands. Jiraiya thought he looked pretty good with that thing, black was never his colour but Naruto's under clothes pulled it off quite well. The clothes that Naruto wore on a daily basis consisted of a burnt orange coat, one that Jiraiya hate on principle, mostly due to the sickly orange jumpsuit that Naruto wore when he was younger. A black undershirt, that lacked sleeves though that was mostly due to the fact that they spent most of their time in temperate climates and they usually got quite hot. Especially since Naruto insisted on wearing that thrice be damned coat everywhere he went, how Jiraiya hated the colour orange!

That lightsaber was an exception, mostly because if he squinted it could look more red than orange. Oh by The Force a Sith saber colour was more agreeable to him that orange, maybe he should seek professional help?

Ah hell who would be a shrink to a Jedi?

No one that Jiraiya could think of off of the top of his head anyway.

His pants were likewise dark and parts of it were wrapped with what looked like belts, they were tight holding his pants closely to Naruto's legs. Less chance of a claw or blade catching them in combat, more importantly they were also hidden sheaths for the four knives he kept on each leg, his Apprentice was something of a knife nut. Not surprising considering that he had trained Naruto to be very comfortable in hand to hand combat, more specifically the Echani Martial Art. By itself the martial art, which these days was nameless past the fact it was Echani, was geared towards purely weaponless fighting if one was a little creative several movements could be enhanced in lethality by the use of knives.

Naruto made full use of that, vicious little bastard that he could be.

The final pieces were his boots and fingerless gloves, the boots were simple affairs made up of a waterproofed leather with a durasteel covering over the toe and soles. Though the soles coating was segmented to allow ease of movement while retaining a large amount of protection. There was nothing special about the gloves at all, they simply stopped his palms slipping on the hilt of whatever weapon he was holding, there was a reason that many Jedi made use of gloves after all, fingerless or not.

Looking at the lightsaber for another second the blond before him flicked it off before attaching it to his belt with a click and pulling the orange, he hated that colour, coat up off of the ground next to him and slipping it around his shoulders. Naurto spun to face him completely, revealing his apprentices tanned face with three whisker line birth marks on each cheek. An odd birthmark to be sure but one that made Naruto very distinctive as a matter of fact when they did undercover work he had to teach the seventeen year old how to hide them with make-up. These days Naruto probably knew more about applying foundation and toner than most women did, something else Jiraiya never failed to rib his student about when it came up in conversation.

"So how does it feel?" Jiraiya asked taking his Apprentice's care free smile.

"Perfect!" Naruto replied, his usual exuberance in his tone. Making the older Dark Jedi, though that title was by a mere technicality on both of them, chuckle.

"I'm glad, now listen up we've got a job to do." Jiraiya stated leading his Apprentice away from The Forge, the ancient place where all lightsabers of the Jedi Order were once constructed. Leaving it silent once more, The Forge on Tython would likely not have another Master and Apprentice there for many years.

Somehow Jiraiya felt the planet wouldn't mind that in the slightest.

 **Chapter One- End.**


End file.
